Struggling with the Truth
by Stillnotwalking
Summary: Naruto and Sakura, along with their friends, return from the final battle with Orochimaru scarred, beaten but victorious. But the blonde Kyuubi vessel is having problems with what has been accomplished. Will Sakura be able to warm his now cold heart?


It was a bleak night, horizontal rain howling and creating loud thunks as the large monsoon droplets hit the trees surrounding the ninja's, but none of them took notice. It was the end of a fight…and the end of a war. The two red eyed demons stared at each other, both possessed by something else and both fighting for control. It was the end of a part of their life, and hers as well, but it was not a bad end.

Standing at his full height, the black form of a friend they once called Sasuke stood and held his arms out, completely defenseless, and looked at the Kyuubi vessel.

"Na…ru...to, END IT!" screamed Sasuke, voiced strained and tearing.

Naruto raised his hand elongating his claws, stepping forward with lightning fast speed and pierced the former Konoha ninja's chest piercing both lungs and his liver, guaranteeing death. Yet it wasn't a happy death for either of them but something they had both tried to avoid, but now it was too late.

Tears streamed down Naruto's face, Kyuubi's chakra receding, as Sasuke gurgled dieing slowly in his arms.

Sasuke managed a small smile though, getting his coughing under control, and lifted his hand to Naruto's shoulder. A friendly grasp, one teammate to another.

"You…did the right…thing Naruto…" coughed Sasuke, struggling through every breath coming closer and closer to the inevitable. "Naruto…?"

"Yes, Sasuke" sobbed Naruto, trying to keep his trade mark smile on his face.

"I'm sorry I put you and Sakura through this…I have had so much regret and hatred in my life…but you…you all were…" Sasuke coughed again, blood dripping down the side of his mouth "I wish you were really my brother Naruto and she my…my sister…but no matter, in this life or the next, I will always think of both…both of you as family…"

"Sasuke?" stammered Naruto torn between love for his fallen brother or his pain at his death, however a raised and burned hand stopped his rant before it began.

"Take care of her Naruto…and love her for the both of us…" said Sasuke, a grin present on his face as his face paled quickly and his eyes finally closed, finally free of the coughing fits and slipping into the unknown.

Naruto lost his hold then, and the dam that held back his emotions finally broke as he brought Sasuke's head into his chest cradling it.

"Sasuke…you idiot I would have done it if you hadn't asked me…" sobbed Naruto, letting out everything he had held in.

Present Day

The bandaged konochi opened her eyes finally…well at least her one undamaged eye. Everything was blurry indicating to the medically adept ninja that she hadn't used her eye in days if not weeks. She was nervous, she didn't know where she was, and just as freaking out became an option a familiar face and voice came through to her.

"Hey forehead girl, glad to see your finally awake." Said Ino, casually placing the book she had been reading down on a table next to her.

"…Ino…Pig…" stuttered Sakura, her mouth unbelievably dry.

"Hold on a second girl, let's try this first alright." Said Ino, smirking, and reaching for a vase of water, bringing out of it a stick with a sponge on it. Sakura's eyes widened in recognition, this was only given to those who were serious injured and couldn't afford to much in the way of liquid.

'Just how bad am I hurt?' asked Sakura to herself.

Ino moved forward with the wet sponge, "Say ah forehead girl."

Sakura's face tried to screw up into an annoyed look but she found that it hurt too much, and just complied.

"…A…ugh" said Sakura, learning that he jaw had sustained a hairline fracture, not enough for being sewn shut but still enough to limit her jaw movement.

"OH NO, Sakura I'm so sorry I should have told you first!" stammered Ino, her sudden concern for her friend showing her true feelings of the situations as she moved forward to check to make sure nothing had moved. Seeing nothing wrong however she moved the sponge to Sakura's mouth and eased it in.

"Easy now, try not to open to much and just swish the water around, you know the drill after all even if you are heavily medicated." Said Ino, concern showing true on her face, until she had to remove the sponge and took her seat back near the hospital table.

"There now you should be able to talk a little better now, though don't push your luck alright…and sorry about that again…I was just so glad you were awake, we were afraid you were never going to." Said Ino, sighing slightly

"It… it's fine Ino…**Chinju** has already punished you I don't have to." Jibbed Sakura, managing a small smirk at the expense of her friend.

Ino chuckled, "Yeah, you got me there."

"So…" stammered Sakura, getting used to her limits "Whats the list like?"

"Hmmm you mean the injuries right…well" said Ino "You have a hairline fracture on your jaw, which you already knew, a broken left forearm and a compound fracture on you right. Let's see, five broken ribs on your left and two on your right…and I think that about covers it for the fractures, otherwise a heavy concussion and you've torn every ligament in your right leg…meaning no walking without support."

Sakura's face was the blank look of despair if Ino had ever seen it before. She knew what this meant and how long she was going to be in the hospital, and being a medical ninja, she probably got enough time here.

"Before you freak though Sakura, Tsunade and Shizune said they were going to be treating you themselves so you should be out in about one week, rather then the usual six you were fearing, though that is still under strict low impact movement." Said Ino

Sakura visibly relaxed, she should have expected it after all she was the Hokage's apprentice and as such entitled to primary care. Still, she wondered about that others.

"What bout…Shik…Shik…Shik…maru" asked Sakura, embarrassed at how bad her pronunciation had been.

Ino tried not to giggle at the pink haired Konochi's misfortune but with her blushing like that, despite her lack of blood it was really hard, so to distract herself she tried looking through a window.

"Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, Tenten, Lee and the others are recovering, they didn't get it near as bad as you or Naruto, the other details can be given to you by the Hokage herself, right now you just need to rest and take you mind off your troubles." Ino smiled turning back to Sakura only to fine a grief stricken face. "Sakura, what's wrong?"

"Naruto…" said Sakura, her voice teetering on the edge. "How hurt is he?"

"Sakura, I don't think I'm the best person to give you a medical explanation of his condition…" said Ino nervously as she watched the tears start to leak out of her friends eyes.

"…please…" sobbed Sakura, tears flowing freely as she was unable to wipe her face "...Please…Ino…"

Ino pulled a hanky from her pocket and proceeded to wipe her friends face, "Alright, but you sure you want to hear it from me?"

Sakura just nodded, at the moment she didn't care who told her; just that she knew he was still alive.

"What was the last thing you remember?" asked Ino, her face darkening

Sakura remembered that grisly image, Naruto's hands growing into claws, the sheer power of him crashing over her causing tremendous fear of her friend. She had blacked out there…but she knew what must have some, Sasuke had asked Naruto to kill him.

"Sasuke and Naruto fighting…" said Sakura, her jaw muscles loosening slightly from use.

Ino's face fell, she had hoped her friend had seen at least something to the extent of Sasuke's demise; she hadn't wanted to be the one to tell her…at least not the part of Naruto and his truth.

"Sakura…Sakura, Sasuke's dead…Naruto defeated him in battle." Said Ino, slightly noticing that Sakura's face did not change "He changed in the end though Sakura, back to the person we know and love, and declared his mistake and love for all of us, but most especially you and Naruto. You have to know that Naruto was hurt tremendously in this task but after Sasuke…or rather Orochimaru attacked you like he did he couldn't keep control of himself anymore, and…well…did you know the nine tailed fox was sealed within him?"

Sakura nodded slightly, holding back tears but for what she wasn't quite sure, after all she was expecting Sasuke to die, Naruto was convinced he could bring him back to them…to her, but she had lost all hope. Yet he still tried, tried to fulfill the promise he had made her to make her happy.

"Well, that makes it easier, Kyuubi came free due to his emotion and he threw himself at Sasuke…to protect you Sakura. But in the end Sasuke, who had started to fight Orochimaru's control, regained his body and knew it would be his one chance to help you and Naruto again. He set it up and Naruto finished it, it was terrible for both of them, but especially for Naruto…since he survived." Said Ino, sadly "But that's not where it ended Sakura, Naruto found you and carried you back to the village, as fast as his drained body could take you; ignoring all the wound he himself had suffered. It's thanks to him that you're still in a presentable shape, if he hadn't rushed you here you would probably be dead."

"What…about the others?" asked Sakura

"Well, they were fine and as they had split off to open up a path for Naruto, they all sustained some injuries but like I said nothing like you two." Said Ino "Which brings me to his condition. Naruto, thanks to his demon charge, usually heals rather quickly but both he and the demons were utterly drained, their chakra pathways were burned and they were completely lost from each other…at least for the time being. So his injuries were quite present even if he was awake when they got both of you to the hospital, how he was able to stay conscious through such pain I don't know. Still, he demanded that they take care of you first, and wouldn't hear anything different even from the Hokage, and eventually it was done as he commanded. When you were taken care of though, they turned back to him…only to find him unconscious from blood loss, and found in his hand 2 blood pills. He had been running the whole way back to the village bleeding to death and replenishing it with those pills."

"The injuries…" gasped Sakura, tears starting to stream her face once more.

Ino sighed "Flayed thigh, every rib broken, punctured lung, compound fracture of the collarbone, 3 broken vertebrae, both arms broken though he did set them, broken pelvis and a wound from Chidori in his left shoulder…truthfully he should be dead."

Sakura let out a small scream, followed by a series of sobs. How horrible it was that he would do something like this to himself for her…almost killing himself for her…why? WHY?

"Why?" asked Sakura to the air in front of her, only to have her friend answer her.

"Because he loves you…I thought that was obvious since the academy." Said Ino matter of fact like, much to the surprise of Sakura who looked at her with a mummy's impression of aghast causing Ino to chuckle. "I figured you'd be dense about it, but back to the rest of his condition, we'll get back to his undying love for you in a moment."

Sakura nodded, thoughts running through her head wildly, though she knew she had to pay attention.

"Hokage-sama and Shizune-sama as well as the rest of the hospital staff performed emergency surgery to restore chakra flow as well as replenish his blood supply, and thankfully it worked, and the proof was in the pudding as they say. After they had finished all of his injuries set themselves and healed again, albeit a bit fast for the Hokage's taste but slow enough to where his burned chakra system could handle it. They put him under nurse's care and he's been in bed ever since unconscious until today." Ino sighed

Sakura arched an eyebrow.

"Today they called me in too wake him up. It worked of course, this is me were talking about here." Said Ino, making a slight smirk "But I learned of everything that happened first hand, his hatred of Orochimaru, his need to help the people of Konoha, but most of all his drive to protect you…and to keep your heart alive. He was willing to throw everything away, including his chance with you to make you happy you know, and bringing Sasuke would have done just that. Truthfully, I don't understand it a bit, but I know he loves you."

Sakura smiled, she knew that Ino couldn't be lying about it; she couldn't be…not only the fact that she wouldn't but she was so easy to read that it wouldn't have gotten past her.

"He does huh…." Said Sakura silently.

"Yes he does, very much so." Said Ino, a wide smile on her face.

"Can I see him?" asked Sakura

"NO! Other then the fact that you shouldn't even move right now, he's not exactly in the best of moods, Kyuubi's rather dominant and, while he's not being destructive, he's very agitated." Said Ino hurriedly, she knew that if Sakura went into the room, Kyuubi, would probably try and mate with her and their would be nothing Naruto could do, he was just to tired to fight, though she was sure he would try. "You'll be able to get up and move around in a week and he'll be back in good enough shape then to be able to hold a decent conversation so just wait until then alright."

"Sure, I guess I don't have a choice." Groaned Sakura

"Nope!" smiled Ino

Knock Knock

"Ino-chan, may I come in?" asked a Feminine voice, vaguely familiar to Sakura, but her hearing was a bit off.

"Sure thing Shizune-sama, please do, our princess just woke up." Said Ino

"Oh good, I can begin the procedure then, it better you be awake just so you can regulate your own chakra paths…but then again you know this don't you Sakura." Chuckled Shizune, walking up to the side of the pink haired medic-nins bed.

Sakura smiled, it was good to see Shizune again…she was glad she was home.

"Well, let's begin"


End file.
